Amish Girl Buggy Shooting "Freak Accident"

December 20, 2011

By Chris Bury, ABCNews.go.com

The shooting death of a 15-year-old Amish girl in Ohio,
originally labeled a homicide, now appears to be an accident,
according to police.

Rachel Yoder was shot in the head Thursday night as she rode in a
horse-drawn buggy on the way home from a Christmas party in rolling
farmland southwest of Canton. At first, a medical examiner ruled the
death a homicide. Now, investigators say the death appears to be a
freak accident.

Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly told ABC News an Amish man
has come forward to say he was preparing to clean his muzzle-loaded
rifle after deer hunting and fired it into the air. Zimmerly says
the bullet from his rifle “is consistent with” the one that struck
the girl riding in a buggy more than a mile away.

The investigation continues and no charges have been filed
against the Amish hunter, who voluntarily notified authorities after
he heard Rachel Yoder had been shot the same night that he was
cleaning his gun.

Yoder was riding alone in the buggy, returning from a Christmas
party for employees who work at an Amish produce farm. The shooting
took place in the same area of Ohio where seven Amish men have been
charged in beard-cutting attacks in a dispute over church
discipline.

But authorities say there is no connection between those attacks
and the girl’s shooting.

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